Loxia Megaplaga>

Loxia Megaplaga-Hispaniolan Crossbill> Familly:Fringilidae

Just had to made this drawing of one of our coolest birds and one of my fave =)

Uncommon and very local occurring exclusively on Pine Forests at high elevation. Their whole existence depends upon this habitat where it feeds and breeds. The mandibles of this bird crossed at tips to perfectly extract the seeds from the cones of pines and spruces.

When the last Ice Age ended 12,000 years ago, this bird was trapped in the coolest areas in the caribbean, Hispaniola island.

Hispaniolan Crossbill is listed as Endangered by IUCN because of its small population size, range restriction to one island, and increasing threats to its habitat (BirdLife International 2008). Total population estimates range from fewer than 1,000 to 3,375 islandwide (Benkman 1994, Latta et al. 2006).